Vol. 79/No. 2      January 26, 2015

Malaysia, with a population of about 30 million, has some 5.8 million migrant workers, but only half of them are documented and legally allowed to work. The vast majority are forced to pay high fees to recruitment agents, who regularly hold their passports. Often they end up getting paid less than they are promised and, in some cases, not at all.

Militant correspondents Nov. 21 spoke with Florida Sandanasamy, coordinator of the Migrant Project, at the offices of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) here, about a recent fight by workers at JCY factories in the southern state of Johor.

JCY is a Malaysian firm that specializes in manufacturing parts for hard disk drives for major international electronic companies. At the end of August workers, the majority from Nepal, carried out a protest strike at the Tebrau JCY plant after one of the Nepalese workers died. “They were angry that the company had done nothing to help him get medical treatment,” Sandanasamy said. This added to their grievances about working conditions, poor hostel facilities, lack of leave and unfair pay deductions. The company had just posted a turnaround profit prior to the protest.

A statement by the MTUC said that they were also protesting the way the bosses treated them without “dignity or respect.” Workers are routinely beaten for minor mistakes.

The company responded by transferring 20 of the strike leaders to another JCY plant at Kulaijaya. There the bosses tried to force them to throw stones at each other as a form of punishment for taking part in the strike. This sparked a protest Aug. 26 by more than 1,000 JCY workers, mostly Nepalese, during which parts of the factory caught fire. Riot cops were called in and 55 workers were arrested.

In a phone interview with the Militant Dec. 11, Mohd Salleh Ahmad, coordinator of the Migrant Resource Centre in Johor, said that most of the workers arrested were sent back to Nepal but 15 are still being held. The permits of five of these workers expired while they were in prison, and they are now being charged under the Immigration Act. The MTUC is appealing the court’s decision.

More than 200,000 immigrants work in the electronics industry, which today accounts for one-third of Malaysia’s exports. “Companies like JCY are making millions, but they don’t want to pay workers more,” Sandanasamy said. Migrant workers (excluding domestic workers) are supposed to receive a minimum wage of MYR900 ($260) per month, but very few do.

Meanwhile, four workers were killed and 30 injured in an explosion Nov. 22 at the Silantek coal mine in Sarawak province, in eastern Malaysia. Pang Ching Nyok, 29, from North Korea; Tun Tun Min, 36, from Myanmar; and Kardianto, 38, from Indonesia were suffocated in the mine. Acmad Zidin, 27, also from Indonesia, died three days later. Government authorities shut the mine down following the fire, which was reported to have been caused by a faulty extractor fan leaking gas.

The mine, operated by Lucky Power Strategies, employed 119 miners, all migrants. Forty-six workers came from North Korea under a special agreement between Pyongyang and Sarawak state authorities. Twenty-nine were from Myanmar and others from Indonesia, China and Bangladesh.

Coal mining jobs are “very dangerous and tough,” Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi told reporters Nov. 25. “No local or Sarawakian will dare to take up such jobs —that is why [we] need foreign workers.”

At the same time, cops backed by army personnel were carrying out a major operation against migrant workers in the Cameron Highlands, to the north of Kuala Lumpur. The government claims migrant workers are working illegally clearing land. In night raids Nov. 22, 39 migrants from Bangladesh, India and Myanmar were detained.

The Malaysian government issued an amnesty through 2014 for any company employing workers without permits if they turn them over to authorities. Tens of thousands of workers were detained last year. “You see foreign workers being harassed all the time,” Sandanasamy said.
 
 
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